Vine borer strikes again

Well, the stocking treatment worked for a while...but there was is a flaw in this method. That is, the vine of the squash plant goes beyond the stocking so the little critters can get in from the uncovered sections. The summer squash plant was looking pretty good last week but I noticed that the leaves were starting to yellow later in the week.

Healthy green summer squash plant just a week or so ago

I checked the base of the plant, and sure enough, there was a clear sign that the nasty little buggers have gotten into the stem.

Sign of vine borer above the portion covered by stocking

After pulling out the plant, I wanted to see if the borers were still in there. The stem was completely hollowed out and two plump little vine borer was happily eating away at the stem. In addition to the the vine borers, nasty centipedes found shelter in the hollowed stem. I plan to start some new zucchini plants, one for the balcony and another for the community plot. Nasty close up pictures of vine borers (and a portion of the centipede) to follow.

You can see the butt of the centipede in the middle of the picture

close up of two vine borer